Bits and Pieces

Our greyhound neighbors are moving (which is sad) but they gave us some old bits and pieces of broken jewelry to use in our creations (not as sad).  I really love the rings, especially the one with the silver blobs and the amethyst.  Some of it will be hard to take apart and reuse, but it is all very exciting.  Thank You, greyhound neighbors!

Greasy Drinking Water

Today is so hot that my brain isn't processing information correctly.  Our air conditioner is on full blast but is is still only cooling about  5 cubic feet.  The cats are all sprawled and sleeping in the least hot place they can find.  Children are playing in fire hydrants everywhere.  I can't think of anything smart and witty to post, so I thought I'd share these hilarious photos of Greasy's favorite trick:  she loves sharing your drink (she wants whatever you have) and if she can't get her face to the liquid, she'll get it with her paw.  It's pretty fun to watch, especially considering how much she hates getting wet in general.

Nighttime

 I love nighttime summer rains.  It makes these hot, humid days worthwhile.  I also like the way the trunk stays completely still and in focus, while the branches get whipped around in the wind. Some even more than others.  And the streetlights make the trunks glow.

Trash Beach

We went to trash beach again last week; these are some of my favorites:

I'm very fascinated by the figurine.  It's in fairly good shape except that the head has broken off.  The fully rusted pliers are also pretty awesome.

Letterpress!

We have letterpress business cards!  Most of them are slightly smaller than actual business cards, but they still relay all of the information (namely our website--which you should check out if you haven't seen it yet!)

Real letterpress--look at the indentation! Very exciting. I know, I did go a little bit overboard with the photos, but it's very exciting.

Crochet Covered Glass Bottles

I've been making these crochet covered glass bottles for a while now, but I've finally decided to upload them to the shop.  I found the old bottles at trash beach and have been having fun crocheting around them.  Donna and Buster were the original impetus for this idea when they gave me a beautiful bottle of Blanton's Bourbon.  One day, it too will be covered with lacy crochet #10 cotton.  But for now, I'll stick to tiny three inch bottles.

A Few New Pictures

I re-shot and updated a whole bunch of photographs in the shop: all of the twig necklaces, and some others.  The twig pendants are some of my favorite necklaces that we make, and I'm sad that we haven't sold a single one.  I'm still convinced that they are a viable market item, so we'll see if the new photography helps.  It really is much better. Click the photo to see the item in the shop!

While I was at it, I also re-shot the screwed necklace, which is definitely a love of mine:

And I finally made a post for these earrings (which we've been making forever): the smoky quartz and brass drops.  We've had a listing in silver because silver tends to be more universal, but the brass posts compliment the smoky quartz so well, we thought we'd include this option, too. (I like these ones better)

Treasure Chest

I found this suitcase in the shed at my brother's house.  It was full of old papers: letters, forms, notes, pamphlets and all kinds of ephemera from years ago.  Some were things like "Financial Planning During the Depression" or school notes, and there was a golf score card, too.  It was a lot of interesting old papers, some of which had been moth-eaten, but all were in remarkably good condition regarding their age.  I also love the stained fabric lining of the suitcase; I guess I have a thing for old, stained fabric.

I did nab this letter, addressed from my great grandfather's sister to my great grandfather.  It was sent in 1940.  I love that the envelope was also used as a notepad.  I think it looks nice in a frame, not that I have much wall space left. . . 

Crochet Covered Spoon

An old silverplate spoon that is now covered in #10 cotton thread.  I've gotten pretty good at invisible decreasing.

Wool Festival and Spinning Yarn

I know, I'm still catching up with Arizona, but this is actually very exciting an definitely deserved it's own post:  We stumbled upon a wool festival at the pioneer museum in Flagstaff.  We saw an advertisement for it in town, and decided that we must go.  There was sheep shearing, navajo weaving and a group of old ladies with their spinning wheels, who just so happened to be nice enough to let a girl from the city commandeer one of them and spin until she was finally pried away.  Of course, my "yarn" is not exactly finely spun, but I did start to get the hang of the draft, spin, let it go--but don't let it go too much and then spin some more but--ohh! you spun it to tight and it broke. . . time to start again.  It was quite fun.

 The sheep were funny because they would start to put up a fight, but then realize it wasn't worth the fuss and relax.

Look! I'm spinning! on a spinning wheel!

This was the uhh, yarn I spun.

 But I did get some merino roving (and a little bit of suri that I'm saving for when I'm good at this) to work with on my my drop spindle.  Drop spindles definitely take a lot longer to spin the same amount of fiber, but I feel like it's easier to get it consistent.  I'll get it down eventually, I'm sure.

Finished Shawl

I finished the shawl on the plane.  The base solomon's knot shape had been finished, but I had no idea how to make the bobble edging; a regular bobble or puff stitch doesn't drop the puffs like I wanted, but it was actually fairly simple to make half a bobble, twist it, and then make another half a bobble back up.  

Sadly, it was so warm the night of the wedding that it didn't get work very much, but here's a photo of the bride trying it on the night before!  It's almost seven feet long, so it can be wrapped around and around the shoulders, and the yarn is so soft and wonderful that it will keep your warm even with the openwork crochet (it certainly kept me warm on the plane).  I have a small ball left and I'm excited to make a small scarf or cowl with it to keep.

Arizona

Flagstaff was a lot of fun.  The wedding was in the forest near a campground and the reception was under the gazebo.  It was a beautiful, low key wedding.  The table decorations were succulents and we all got to take them home afterwards.  There was music and dancing and a campfire, and it was good to see old friends. 

This flower bloomed at night, and by sunrise it had closed up.

The campground sits on a volcano, so the ground was covered in volcanic gravel.  It was actually very comfortable to sleep on.

I love the lichen...

This is my wedding attire.  I actually wore those wedges camping because I was less worried about ruining them than my more appropriate shoes (which, in retrospect, were probably not more appropriate).  The pine needles also made for comfortable sleeping.

Justin took these photos of the saguaro at my parent's house.  He says that he's not a good photographer, but I like them.  And look at how blue the sky is!  It was hot in phoenix: 111° (!) but I still miss it sometimes.